PeasantoftheVise

Hi All, I have the previous generation Korkers and have not been very happy with them. The soles like to pop off which can not only be anoying but also dangerous (when crossing the fast current river!). I have now screwed the front into the boots (no longer easily interchangable but a whole lot safer). I have read this thread with some interest as I was convinced that I would never buy another pair of Korkers. But do I understand that no one has experienced a sole popping off on its own accord? Mine didn't do this until after a year or so, so I would be really interested in hearing from people that have 2+ years of experience. I also have found that I have never really used the hiking tread because I never hike up to a mountain lake in my waders and without them the boots are just way too big for hiking in. What is everyone else doing that uses them for hiking? I must admit that I find them to be very comfortable and to offer good overall support.

Tiemco 2488H (the "H" is for heavy) in size 20 and the Tiemco 2487 in size 16 have been bullet proof for me this year. They meet the wide gap criteria and are incredibally strong, I have yet to bend one out. I have more bending out problems with size 14 patterns using Tiemco hooks.

I have used the Danvise (I have the model with the pedestal base) now for 4 years and have been quite happy with it. I use it to tie flies from size 20 to size 2 and although I do not make extensive use of the rotary action I do find it helpful at times to be able to turn the fly in the vise. I must however confess that this is my first vise and I do not have a history with other vises to compare it with. So far my only complaint would be that the jaws are a little too soft and the tips of mine have bent outward ever so slightly. I would also say that this vise does not have tons of room behind the jaws for tying--generally quite enough but every now and then I find it could have some more room.

I can certainly buy into that happening some of the time. My concern with accepting it outright as why I catch fish on the lower two flies is that generally in the winter I am fishing the top fly as weight to get my rig down--this means I either have a worm or a stone on the top. The flies that I change are the middle two flies and sometime I am just changing the color/type of midge on the end until I find what the fish are keying in on--in other words what causes the indie to go down more often.

Peter, Last year VP Jr. tied many of his rigs with the worm in the middle location. He has not done this as much this year but maybe that would give you the best of both worlds.

Hi All, I have been reading this thread with lots of interest and have been mulling a few things over before jumping into the fray. I always fish a triple rig (heavy, light, lighter flies), and generally fish slower water (too lazy to do all that re-casting). So based on what has been said so far I should expect to only occassionally catch a fish on the last two flies and most of my hookups should be on the heavy first fly aka "the worm". However, from personal experience this has not been the case. Here are the results from yesterday, one fish caught on the lead fly, one on the 2nd fly, and two on the 3rd fly (with another brute lost that bent the 18 brassie 90 degrees). In fact my experience this winter has been totally the opposite of the theory that is being bantered about. I have caught very few fish on the top fly (although I love it when the fish are keyed into the worm as hookup to landing ratios so up dramatically), and the majority of fish caught on the middle and bottom flies. I am not too sure exactly what is going on with the flies as they drift through the slow water but my experience has been that fish will take all three flies and your indie will move enough to allow you to set the hook and catch fish even on the bottom two flies.

Fished the Oldman the last week of Aug and found the fish to be very picky but catchable. As said before the small sized Griffith Gnat was a winner but so was a size 16-20 ant pattern. Those fish are there but not rising to any large flies. Our best fish would have been in the 18" range--is that what you mean by large fish?

Opps, it was actually the right hand side when you are walking from the parking lot to the channel--we lefties want everything to be on the left.

Thanks Jeff, We were fishing the channel on the left hand side about a 1/4 of the way up. Not a great or expensive net but it has that great smell of bullies Craig

Hi All, Left a net at Upper K'Lakes today at 1:00pm and I am hoping that some FFC board member might have picked it up. Thanks!

My now 13 year old got us started fly fishing when he was 9. He loves it and we go out almost every weekend. Our family vacations are now planned around where we will fish and what we will fish for. Now if only I could get the 17 year old back into fishing--according to him, he is retired, and we never keep any of the fish so what is the point . Oh well, that means 4 to hike, 2 to fish, and 2 to read, everyone is happy!

Hydropsyche, Picked the two pairs up during a business trip to the US. I tend to travel quite light so my suitcase was just jammed full. No shipping, no GST. Maybe I just got lucky or you got unlucky but we have two pairs and so far they are great! From what I can tell the quality is there--no fancy name but from my perspective a good product. The only experience I have with Cabelas and mail order is having items sent to my parents in Scottsdale. That works out okay. It might have something to do with the fact that there is a store in the Phoenix area though.

My son and I have Cabela's Premium Dry Plus waders and have nothing but good things to say about them. Two years of fishing in them now, no leaks, dry as a bone, good breathability, and a great price (waist ~$100, chest ~$125). We have fished in lots of different conditions including fishing all winter this year and they still look great and perform wonderfully. Even if I only get another couple of years out of them, they will be an absolute bargain in comparison to the $300-400 waders out there.

Peter, Long Distance Release'ing But in many cases this has been more short distance. I was out at lunch today for a bit and lost a nice fish after a short struggle. Not too sure if it is a function of the fact that the fish took a size 20 midge or my hook set. But it was the same old thing, "oh, there's a fish, a few head shakes then ....strip...strip, darn..... its off. Whereas the fish that took the worm was very well hooked...good fight though for a 13-14" brown, a couple of short runs and then went right the bottom and held there. Beautiful day......I hope that you get out.

Okay everyone I have been trying this strip set/softer hookset for a while now and would like your opinion on this observation. Why is it that I am now ldr'ing a lot of fish? The other day I hooked into and fought (for a short period of time, some longer than others even to a point of taking the net off my back) 7 fish before finally landing one. I have found that this was not a one time occurance, as this seems to be the norm. With my old hookset I landed a very high percentatge of all fish--probably in the order of 90%. I have become more mindful of applying side pressure vs upward pressure but is there something I am missing technique wise? Do you need to set the hook more to the side vs up? On the good side though I see alot fewer flying three fly rigs going into the bushes--but sure would like to see a few more of those fish up close and personal like. Thoughts?

Hi All, I have been experimenting more with my hookset and have decided that I will try to lay off a little on the strength of the pull by moving the rod a lot less and increasing the strip. This has been working quite well but the trees don't look quite as colourful. I have to agree that setting often is the key, I was down at favourite hole today and decided to set the hook anytime I saw any movement on the indicator. And lo and behold if it didn't yield a couple of smaller bows. I would not have normally even known that these fish were on the line. Thanks for all the advise! I still have lots to learn and appreciate everyone who has chimed in.

Thanks for all the input guys...it seems that everyone has a slightly different approach--heave ho vs quick short lift. I have been experimenting with more of a strip approach to minimize the "tree decorations" the past couple of times out and have been much better at being able to continue a drift after a set. Still there is a huge tendency to give her the old heave ho. Rickr, I also wonder about the impact that your rod stiffness has on your ability to set the hook as I often find myself with lots of line on the water (s curves) to allow for a natural drift. Thoughts?

Hi All, I am looking for your input on how you set the hook when nymphing. Here is what I find: 1. When dry fly fishing I have never had a tendency to pull the fly away from a rising fish and generally have a very good hook up ratio. 2. With nymphing I tend to pull up quite quickly on the line when I suspect a hit (based on the indicator going under...note some days I wait until the indicator is fully submerged (about 6"-12") and on others I hit as soon as the indicator moves a little. 3. In cases where there is no fish (maybe a I hit a small twig, the bottom, etc...) the line has a tendency to go rocketing over my head. This generally results in a well hooked tree and the loss of several flies. 4. In cases where there is a fish, then I get a good hook set. Note: I have never snapped off setting the hook in this manner. I am more than a little tired of decorating trees with flies and would welcome your input on how to improve my technique. I am also a little concerned that the noise of pulling the line out of the water might put some fish down so any tips you can give me on how to get better would be very much appreciated. Thanks!

I have read about Czech nymphs a few times but have never fished nor ties one of these. Any suggestions on good patterns fo the Bow? Thanks, Craig

I know that many of you out there use Maxima for leaders--and I do too. But I am wondering if anyone knows if there is a difference between the product that Maxima labels as leader and sells in 27 yard spools vs the 220 yard "x" test spools that they sell. I find that I go through those little leader spools quite quickly when I am fishing 3 fly nymph rigs all the time and would like to know if I can cheap out this way. Thanks in advance for all replies and Merry Christmas!

Not sure why the picture did not show up. 2nd try.

Here is my version of a red pheasant tail....after hearing about Kungfool catching 30+ fish the two days ago I rushed to the bench to tie such a fly. Of course, I found myself without any red dyed pheasant tail so I improvised, red thread, red wire, and a red marker. I was quite surprised at how much redder this turned out than a normal fly. Rickr, you might want to try this fly also, I have proof that it catches whities. Dryfly, I was fishing your version of a pheasant tail and caught a nice brown....unfortunately they did not seem to like the "real thing" as much as the imitation red pheasant tail.

I have used both pliers and the vise. IMO the pliers are very easy to use on larger flies size 10+, but with smaller flies I find it easier to use the vise. With the pliers it can be very difficult to pinch down the barb without increasing the gap and for some reason getting the smaller barbs completely flat can be a challenge. Overall, I would be much happier if our local suppliers only brought in barbless hooks, it is an extra step in the tying process that sometimes gets missed and then you are forced to pinch down a barb with your forceps (a job that they are not really designed to do). That my 2 cents! I would be very interested to know if any of you tyers out there who have been using your vise to pinch the barbs have found it to be a big contributing factor in the wearing out of your vise jaws. As I have certainly seen how the metal in a pair of pliers gets dented up over time.

Hi All, Thanks for the input--I am looking forward to fishing some new waters. Guito, thanks for the suggestion of where to fish on the Missouri. Off at noon!

H2O, Thanks for the advise, I will stop in and ask questions. SanJaun, I am not leaving until noon on Friday. Troutbabe, The main reason for the trip is to pick up a new tent trailer. The local dealers would not even try to be competitive with the price I got. If anyone is looking at RV's I would definitely recommend looking south of the border. They are willing to deal and the prices are at least 20% less including all of your transportation costs. Harps, Thanks for the advise, I have to travel that way home as I need to go through the Coutts border crossing.